stories
My Fridge Story
I got myself a 235ltr Electrolux-Kelvinator Fridge last night! Here’s a related story. When I was a kid I was bowled over by Fridges; I come from South-India which suffers from an intense tropical climate. I know only hot, hotter and hottest. So, I was a natural sucker for anything that had anything to do with cold: snow, Air-conditioners, Fridges, winters, fog… You name it. Until I was ten I had never seen a Fridge from close quarters. I know this concept is indigestible for readers from USA or Europe. But, yes, that’s how it was. In 1983 my aunt invited my brother and me over to Hyderabad for the summer holiday. Of all the things that their opulent home had to offer (opulence is relative my friend), I was smitten by the -you guessed it right- the fridge. More...
The logistics of an Indian wedding
It is never simple. Never easy. You don’t control it. You become a mere player. The strings are pulled by a council of family members headed by the parents, the grand parents and the rest. Take for example my engagement: We (she and I) wanted it to be a simple affair. We just wanted to get engaged for the kick of it; she wanted to go around telling people and showing off her ring, and I wanted her to be happy. Now, it has boomeranged into a major ceremony. It is like almost conducting a wedding mind you. Her parents are doing the running around, fixing the menu for the engagement lunch etc. The last estimate revealed that there could 100+ people at the engagement. No, don’t get me wrong, I am happy, I am thrilled, I am just More...
Don’t wait for the can
When I was 13 I wanted to learn swimming. And in Chittoor the only way to do that was through the irrigation wells that fed the paddy, sugar cane crops. I set out to a field near my home, along with my friends (read: swimmers). I had my tummy in knots and was all nerves as I peered down from the top of the well to the blue-green translucent water. A small turtle lay nestled at the bed of the well, lazily flapping its limbs(?!). It was a huge well, a perfect circular structure that had a spiral stair case for one to get to the water level. Sudhakar, my chief instructor tied a 5 ltr plastic can around my naked waist. As I walked down the can kept slapping my butt. I was so damn sure that More...
Water Melons, Mangoes, and early morning school
The heat in Indore is unbearable. You don’t perspire too much here like in Chennai so the heat sticks within and your pee turns yellow and it burns! This time of the year back in Chittoor when I was in school; I used to get up early in the morning to attend school at 7:45 a.m. The little flower convent would function between 7:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. in the summers. That meant we had a ‘breakfast’ break during which we ate our packed breakfast (which was mostly uppuma, as mom preferred it; it was easier and faster to cook). And we had the whole afternoon to kill. We used to steal mangoes from the farms nearby. We used to jump the fence and walk in and pluck the mangoes and run away. We never got caught maybe More...
Looking Back at Television
In early 80s, when I was 9 or so. Lakshmiah Naidu – the rich man of the Pagadamanu Street, Chittoor – bought a TV. Along with the other kids, we used to flock his house. They accommodated us for the first few days, but after the crowd became unmanageable, they shut the door on us. And left the window open. Continue reading “Looking Back at Television” »